~ Thinking outside the box about Cambodia

The Other Way of Dialoguing

Hope you are not bored by what you are not hearing or reading in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk. It’s looking dull and every politician’s sterility of ideas and perspectives looks not only arid but famished, where the whole world is flooded with people thinking how to overcome Brexit and its consequences on world economics, to project the US elections outcome, and even … to lament Messi for missing the goal at Copa America finals, or England for another “Brexit” from Europe 2016 executed by Iceland!

Against this background, what do Cambodians have for themselves besides boasting in front of the TV screens about which team they root for as if they are the coaches of those teams or if they are super-experts in European soccer or if they were bookmakers!

Nevertheless, there is one area that might give you a small impetus to quietly thinking why such a thing could happen and seems to be accepted as acceptable anomaly. It’s about the “exiled” and the “confined”, two parliamentary personalities leading an opposition to nowhere, except the verbal-promises-without-actions for 2017 and 2018. Only in Cambodia that such things can happen, strangely and badly.

So, Kacvey, since nobody outside their closest and most inner political quarter has ever heard how they communicate between each other, let create an imaginary dialog between the two of them and outside the radar/antenna of the “a cu”. This is how the dialog would go:

Exiled: How’s life in the party headquarters converted into living quarters?
Confined: Not as comfortable as yours in France, but I can manage.
Exiled: It must not be fun to be alone in bed at night.
Confined: Taking a lot of cold shower and practicing yoga to keep the little monster tamed.
Exiled: It’s been a month now and how long do you plan to hang in there?
Confined: Can I return the compliment? How long do you plan to stay away in “Paree”?
Exiled: As long as the “other guy” continues to threaten to lock me up when I get to Pochentong.
Confined: Then, I’m hanging in here until the same “other guy” changes his game plan.
Exiled: Will he?
Confined: Don’t know, but from the windows I can see his stooges in dark glasses and machine guns hanging out not too far from the compound, 24/24!
Exiled: So you won’t come out on your own?
Confined: You’re crazy! We’re dealing with a maniac here! The “other guy” seems to have no more of game plan of his own. He might be expecting or hoping that I get sick and need to be hospitalized.
Exiled: Why then doesn’t “he” decide to storm the compound, the place doesn’t have immunity?
Confined: Too risky for him as I am not a fugitive. He knows when to accelerate and when to brake.
Exiled: Why Interior or Defense or Justice or Information keep so quiet, and let only the spinning dogs do the talking?
Confined: They seem to silently say “You make up the whole mess, you have to fix it yourself.” They use the spinning dogs to test the field but I don’t give a damn to these dogs. Let them bark until the moon disappear!
Exiled: What do you think the guy from the Northeast country would have thought or said when he was in the capital in mid-June?
Confined: What make you think that he might have approved and supported it?
Exiled: Internal affairs without consequences to the Northeast country!
Confined: He was in the capital to make sure that there will be no “consequences!”
Exiled: Are you okay when some of our guys leave you for Manila?
Confined: Hey, Qué sera, sera! If they want to storm the compound, would these couple of guys be able to resist or stop them?
Exiled: I got bashed in Lowell where people now speak a different language than in 2103.
Confined: Why did you decide to go there at the first place?
Exiled: Campaign for continuous support, fund-raising and meet US politicians.
Confined: Khmer-Americans and US politicians are different breeds. And besides, they want to hear different or new things. First generation of Khmer-Americans who came to the US as refugees are not the same as their children who are now adults and have their own mind.
Exiled: Are you and I still “one person” as when we created the party in Manila?
Confined: Hard to say and re-define. You in Paree, me in the compound, and how long can we let things going on like this?
Exiled: Would you be able to lead the party alone if I decided not to return at all?
Confined: Before doing that, start with the resignation from the NA. Then, we’ll talk.
Exiled: Tough move. A party with two top leaders in “physical” and “geographical” disarray does not display an image of confidence, unity and strength.
Confined: The ball is in our court, and we have to decide, and the sooner the better. You are in a safe place, and your safety is your main concern. Safety or politics? I am local, I don’t have dual nationality, and I’m used to be close to the constituency; the “other guy” knows who I am, and I know who he is. I was jailed and I did not need a pardon from the royal palace.
Exiled: If so, why did “he” trap you in this bedroom story?
Confined: He trapped me because he can’t find my political weakness in the same manner as he did to you; he played dirty because he wanted to damage my reputation among the population before the elections. But it doesn’t work for him. Remember: “errare humanum est.” He’s no exception. Right now he’s playing with time and patience to extract himself from his self-made quagmire; the jailing of human rights activists and the Black Mondays are all smokescreen to hide his faltered ego.
Exiled: “Faltered ego”?
Confined: His social media account has been hacked more than once! He who trusts it like he does to god as his own weapon for his ego and against you!
Exiled: I’ll discuss with the guys in Manila.
Confined: There must be a time when talking has to stop and doing has to start.